Chapter 16

Elizabeth was halfway to Katie Brown's lab—this time of the day she wouldn't be in her quarters—when a thought struck her. Slowing her pace, she shifted directions and started down a different corridor. All her worry and fears about why Rodney hadn't been there started to dissolve as Sheppard's words came back to her: "You know Rodney…" Yes. She did know Rodney. And something told her that she had a better idea of where he would be than Katie Brown.

Strangely, she shouldn't have known what direction to take. Since that terrifying encounter with Koyla she had avoided the place like a drowning man avoids water. Even after the time she had spent with Rodney out on the windswept balcony—subconsciously or not—it still made her skin crawl to think about willingly going to the place again. She hadn't admitted it to Rodney, but she hated the place more than she had ever let on. It reminded her too much of the man that had not only hurt Rodney, but that had tried to drag her back through the 'Gate. The look in his eyes, the stench of his breath… the feeling of his body behind hers—it still made her want to gag.

But this was neither the time nor the place for such memories and thoughts. No, this was a time for her and Rodney. Following a memory that had never happened in real life, Elizabeth followed empty corridor after empty corridor before she came to the closed doors leading to the, in Rodney's words, finicky power station. She stood outside a moment, taking a deep breath and trying to steady her heartbeat. If she was right—and she was pretty sure she was—this would be the first time she would be looking Rodney in the eye in over a month, not including their meeting in Rodney subconscious.

Elizabeth, hovering just outside the door's sensors, stepped forward. Immediately the stain glass portal slid open and Elizabeth stepped outside.

The scene that met her was completely different from what she had expected and suddenly all previous memories—except for one—faded away into twilight.

The first time she had been here, it had been dark and cold and rainy. The second time it had been dreary and blustery—and still cold. But now… now it was an entirely different place. The sun was shining brilliantly, making the glass-like grounding station glow with a brilliant inner light. A calm, azure ocean stretched out to the horizon beneath a cloudless sky. A warm breeze wafted passed her, ruffling her hair and bringing with it the scent of the sea.

In short, it was beautiful.

After a moment of distraction, her eyes were drawn to a sight that she found a thousand times more beautiful than the ocean and the sunlight.

Rodney, with his back to her, was leaning against the railing overlooking the pier below. He had removed his jacket—she saw it lying crumpled haphazardly in a corner. To her surprise, she saw his powerbook lying on top of it, completely ignored by the scientist. Also, tossed beside the powerbook, was his headset. No wonder he hadn't responded when she had tried to contact him. Well, that actually made her feel much better.

Elizabeth took another deep breath to steady herself and stepped down to the tiered balcony. She was still several feet away from Rodney, and not making a sound, when the man suddenly flinched and whirled around to face her. His blue eyes grew wide and he pressed himself against the railing.

"Elizabeth!" he cried. A frown crossed his features. "They didn't tell me you were awake!"

As soon as the words had left his mouth, his hand wandered up to where his headset was supposed to be and looked mollified when he realized it wasn't there. He sighed and dropped his hand again.

"No headset. Right." He mumbled. He looked up at Elizabeth and smiled nervously. "So… feeling better?"

Elizabeth clasped her hands in front of her and smiled slightly.

"Much." She said lightly. She walked forward until she was standing beside him. Unclasping her hands she rested her palms on the railing and leaned forward, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "It's so beautiful." She whispered.

"Yeah…" Rodney said dreamily and Elizabeth glanced over at him. He was gazing at her with a weird, half-dazed expression and paying absolutely no attention to the ocean or the surrounding sunlight. He suddenly realized that she was looking at him and he shook himself. "Uh. I mean the ocean. The ocean's beautiful. And the sun. They're beautiful. Oh! But that's not to say that you're not… uh… because you know you're… uh… You know."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. After worrying about him only to find that he had simply been devoid of a headset, she was feeling strangely giddy. She was enjoying watching him fumble for words, watching his hands wave about wildly as he tried to find the right thing to say. It was rather endearing. Of course, in her mind, he was never so attractive as when he was in full Rodney mode—when he new exactly what to do, how to do it and had complete control over his situation. Yeah… he was pretty hot then.

"And… uh… Elizabeth?" Rodney's voice ended in a high squeak when he realized that she was regarding him with the same dreamy expression that he had been presenting her with a moment ago. He swallowed—he wasn't used to such a beautiful woman looking at him like that—and stumbled to an awkward halt. "What… uh… something wrong?"

Elizabeth smiled lazily, deciding he had had enough teasing.

"No." she said slowly. "I was just thinking."

"Uh… oh?" Rodney squeaked again. He was getting really nervous now. The memory-that-wasn't-real of their last encounter here was still fresh in his mind and his lips still tingled with that kiss. And the sensation of her fingers in his hair… He swallowed thickly. "A—about what?"

"Remember the last time we were here?" Elizabeth asked and Rodney's eyes flew wide. What, now she could read his thoughts? He coughed.

"Uh… yes?"

Elizabeth smiled and turned so that she was facing him. Somehow, in turning she had also managed to slide forward so that now she was standing almost toe to toe with him. He found himself looking down into her green eyes, framed by her wind-tousled curls. And that mouth…

"Do you remember what we talked about?" she asked, taking another step forward. Rodney swallowed again. All coherent thought seemed to have left his mind, leaving him thinking of only two things—that Elizabeth was standing unnaturally close to him, in real life, and the memory of that kiss…

"We, uh, we talked about a lot of… uh, things." He said lamely, still amazed that this was actually happening. This… was actually happening, wasn't it? He had actually woken up and he really was standing here with Elizabeth as she moved closer, gently resting her hands on either side of his face, looking up at him with those gorgeous green eyes…

"I think I said something to you… that I promised I would repeat." She said, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Rodney didn't know where to look. Here eyes were so beautiful, but that mouth was so intoxicating… and it was difficult concentrating on either when Elizabeth's thumbs were gently stroking the side of his face. He felt like a deer caught in the headlights—and they were some very nice headlights. If there was going to be a crash, he couldn't be happier staying right where he was.

"Oh?" Rodney squeaked, trying to sound suave and failing miserable at it. Elizabeth smiled and pulled Rodney's face down to hers, gently pressing her lips against his.

Rodney thought his head was about to explode. The first kiss had been good enough, but this… this was real. He melted into her, feeling her lips stretch into a smile against his, pulling him closer. Much sooner than he would have liked, Elizabeth pulled away and leaned her forehead against his. She looked up at him, her green eyes deep and brilliant.

"I love you, Rodney McKay." She whispered and a smile quirked at her lips. "Corny as that may sound."

"Oh…" Rodney breathed. "Still doesn't sound that corny coming from you."

Elizabeth giggled and raised her hands, pushing them through his hair. Rodney shuddered and grinned foolishly.

"I seem to remember you liked this." She murmured as she watched his blue eyes glazed over.

"Yeah…" Rodney sighed, perfectly content to let her run her fingers through his hair now that he had nothing to confess to her. He heard Elizabeth giggle again, her voice like music to his ears.

"You're worse than Sedge." She grinned.

"Hmm… who's Sedge?" Rodney asked lazily, not really caring.

"My dog."

Rodney's eyes suddenly focused and he frowned at her—though he made no attempt to dislodge her fingers.

"Excuse me? I remind you of your dog?" Elizabeth, her fingers freezing, opened her mouth to respond, but Rodney interrupted her shortly. "If I'm going to remind anyone of any sort of domesticated animal, then I'm a cat." Rodney scowled. :Hmph. Dog… please."

Elizabeth, frozen with the thought that she had pushed him away, suddenly felt her tension dissolve. She laughed and wrapped her arms around Rodney's neck, leaning forward and grinning into his shoulder. He couldn't help but grin in response to her laughter as he let his arms slide around her waist. Yeah, this was defiantly better than his subconscious.

Even if she had compared him to a dog.

Once her mirth had subsided to a few giggles, Elizabeth lifted her head and grinned up at Rodney.

"I'm sorry," she said in mock seriousness. "You, Rodney McKay, are like a cat in every sense of the word."

Rodney stood a little straighter and she felt his arms tighten around his waist as he grinned.

"Thank you." He said proudly. "I appreciate that."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"So, do I get a kiss now or what?" she asked. Rodney's blue eyes lit up.

"Oh! Right." He grinned and leaned down to meet her, pressing his thin lips against hers. This time it lasted quite a bit longer than the others as she eagerly parted her lips for him. He lost himself in the taste of her and for a moment, he was actually worried that he would faint—pass out—again.

This is, until he heard an amused cough coming from the balcony doorway.

Rodney should have known it would be Sheppard that would ruin the moment.

"Never mind," he heard the man say—a grin obvious in his voice, "I found them."